Customer Acquisition Q&A

In order to expand your customer-base you need to give people a reason why they would want to potentially go out of their way to get to you instead of going to a cafe closer to home. As the others have mentioned, it’s difficult to give suggestions without knowing what you’ve already tried, but here are some ideas that will (hopefully) help you get more foot traffic in your cafe:

1. Corporate and event catering - catering not only opens up another way of doing business, but it can expose your cafe to a wider audience who may bear you in mind for future catering events 

2. Do weekly specials - doing a delicious weekly gets people excited and offers value-for-money

3. Host events - run comedy nights, open-mic, film nights, cork n’ canvas, etc

4. Try to nail one thing on your menu - we all have that one favourite dish that we would travel far and wide to get! Pick and master a household or local/national favourite that will get people talking 

5. Loyalty cards - loyalty cards are a great way to keep people coming back

6. Consider a suburb special coupon - give people in the nearby suburbs an exclusive discount
   
   Good luck :) 

Social media! You can do so much that's free, just your time to get out there and get involved. Find Facebook (and LinkedIn) groups that your ideal customer would be part of and get active in there. Not promoting unless you're invited to do so, but sharing and connecting with the audience. 

I believe there is an avenue to grow your business as an adjunct service in the early days. A site such as ensignbrokers.com.au would be a great place to pin point people selling/buying boats. They are in the market, can look to use your product to upgrade their experience and they are in the right head space.

you can use seo for your website designing service thats the only and best way to sell your service.

Have a great website yourselves with a solid portfolio.  Any portfolio link should open a new window so your site is still there when they stop browsing the portfolio.

Don't try and be all things to all people.  Be sure what your target market is.  Information / lead generation sites versus e-commerce / transactional.  Experienced with web versus small business just starting out.  Push that strength on your website and in your portfolio.

Have a page on 'what to look for in a web development agency?' or a checklist of steps in planning a website.  Pitch this to the level of expertise you expect in your target market.  Run in conjunction with a blog / newsletter that people sign up to.

One newsletter I'm signed up to recently offered a 'free blog overhaul to increase conversions' for one lucky reader.  In exchange, they got:

* I don't know how many enquiries from their readership who are now warm prospects with an identified need / desire.

* an excellent case study for future newsletter and web post  (I think the conversion rate went up 300% or something)

* an evangelist!

Or free reviews to anyone for a limited time.  (or maybe at $10 since a nominal payment may reduce tire-kickers...)

The customers you are seeking don't respond to offers or deals. You need word-of-mouth. Ask (or incentivise) your existing clients for referrals. If that doesn't work then pick some potential clients you want to work with and make them an offer -- most will ignore but remember you only need a few to respond.

Tip: Yesware +/- PipelineDeals.

Good luck!